“I kind of like someone else now,” she says before I can say anything.
I look up. “Yeah? You found your prince?”
“Hmm. Maybe.” She nods, not elaborating, and I don’t push. Tamra won’t tell more than she wants to. We’re alike in that way, I guess. For too long, we’ve lived together, but separately, holding the deepest parts of our hearts hidden because the other won’t like what’s there. Problem is, we know each other well enough that it’s hard to hide much of anything.
I watch her for a moment, my lips parted, ready to break that trend. But no words materialize. Some habits are hard to break. I’m not ready to tell her about Will yet. Right now it’s a warm little secret hugged close to my heart. A beautiful butterfly I’ve managed to capture and hold carefully in my cupped hands.
She’ll know soon enough. For now, I’ll hold my lovely butterfly close and try not to crush it.
The following day, Will doesn’t put in his usual appearance.
Not surprising. He told me he would go to school today…. I harassed him until he promised. I don’t want him to get in trouble or flunk out because of me, and I don’t want to draw any more attention to myself with his family.
But since he’s promised me that before and always showed up anyway, I can’t help feel disappointed when the day wanes with no sight of him. Even with our date tonight, it’s a long stretch of hours without him.
I visit Mrs. Hennessey for a while. We watch a little television together before her nap, then I head home and spread out on my bed to catch up on schoolwork. I breeze through chemistry and start on my geometry—the quadratic formula. I learned it two years ago, so I’m working through the problems in an easy rhythm when I hear it.
A soft click.
A creaky floorboard.
My skin pops, dances, shivers with excitement. Will. I lower my pencil and sit up, brushing anxiously at my hair.
“Hello? Mom?” I’m convinced it’s not Mom but ask anyway. Just in case.
Nothing. Silence.
“Mrs. Hennessey?”
Rising, I move to my door and stare into the living room. The front door is open. Light streams in and tiny motes of dust dance inside the beams of sunshine. Just beyond, the pool gleams a blue so bright it hurts my eyes.
“Will?” I risk calling. My voice rings hopefully.
I stride forward, shooting a quick glance at the empty kitchen. Just in case he’s there, making us a snack. Nothing. At the front door, I peer outside, see nothing.
My lips twist in disappointment. No Will.
I close the door slowly, make sure it shuts solidly this time. My skin still ripples, snapping with energy. The kind of energy I feel around Will. Except Will would answer me.
Staring at the door, I chafe my arms, puckered to gooseflesh despite my body’s warmth.
For what it’s worth, I go ahead and lock the door. The quiet feels thick and oppressive.
Far too still.
My skin swims in heat, uncomfortably warm. A dip in the pool might help. With a hand on the hem of my shirt, I turn to get my suit. And scream.
I bite back my cry, cut it short before it can wake Mrs. Hennessey and bring her running.
“Hello, Jacinda.”
Dread strikes deep in the well of my heart at that voice. I knew this moment would eventually arrive, but that didn’t make me ready. He promised five weeks, after all. I swallow hard, knowing that persuading him to leave a second time will be harder.
My lungs smolder. My windpipe widens, swells with heat, ready to defend myself. The fire inside me intensifies when I think about the wing clipping that awaits me…that he wants to take me back to endure. “Get out,” I rasp.
His eyes flare wide, the pupils thinning to vertical slits. “Your mother told you,” he states flatly.
“Yeah,” I snap. “She told me.”
“She doesn’t know everything. She doesn’t know me…or how I feel. I would never force you to do anything against your will, and I would never, ever let anyone harm you.”
His words enrage me. Lies, I’m convinced. My hand shoots out, ready to slap that earnest look off his face. The same earnest look he’d given me the first time he lied to my face.
He catches my hand, squeezes the wrist tight. “Jacinda—”
“I don’t believe you. You gave me your word. Five weeks—”
“Five weeks was too long. I couldn’t leave you for that long without checking on you.”
“Because you’re a liar,” I assert.
His expression cracks. Emotion bleeds through. He knows I’m not talking about just the five weeks. With a shake of his head, he sounds almost sorry as he admits, “Maybe I didn’t tell you everything, but it doesn’t change anything I said. I will never hurt you. I want to try to protect you.”
“Try,” I repeat.
His jaw clenches. “I can. I can stop them.”
After several moments, I twist my hand free. He lets me go. Rubbing my wrist, I glare at him. “I have a life here now.” My fingers stretch, curl into talons at my sides, still hungry to fight him. “Make me go, and I’ll never forgive you.”
He inhales deeply, his broad chest lifting high. “Well. I can’t have that.”
“Then you’ll go? Leave me alone?” Hope stirs.
He shakes his head. “I didn’t say that.”
“Of course not,” I sneer. “What do you mean then?” Panic washes over me at the thought of him staying here and learning about Will and his family. “There’s no reason for you to stay.”
His dark eyes glint. “There’s you. I can give you more time. You can’t seriously fit in here. You’ll come around.”
“I won’t!”
His voice cracks like thunder on the air. “I won’t leave you! Do you know how unbearable it’s been without you? You’re not like the rest of them.” His hand swipes through air almost savagely. I stare at him, my eyes wide and aching. “You’re not some well-trained puppy content to go along with what you’re told. You have fire.” He laughs brokenly. “I don’t mean literally, although there is that. There’s something in you, Jacinda. You’re the only thing real for me there, the only thing remotely interesting.” He stares at me starkly and I don’t breathe. He looks ready to reach out and fold me into his arms.
I jump hastily back. Unbelievably, he looks hurt. Dropping his immense hands, he speaks again, evenly, calmly. “I’ll give you more space. Time for you to realize that this”—he motions to the living room—“isn’t for you. You need mists and mountains and sky.
Flight. How can you stay here where you have none of that? How can you hope to survive? If you haven’t figured that out yet, you will.”